Existing users, 
 A Portrait... - 2.0.009software artwork; generates a realtime montage |
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Feedback Summary:
| This Version: | |||||
| Overall Rating: |   (1.0) |
Features: | (1.0) |
Support: | (1.0) |
| Ease of Use: | (3.0) |
Quality / Stability: | (1.0) |
Price: | (1.0) |
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In response to Dan Warne's post of 11/7/2003... - Version: 2.0.009, 11/8/2003 05:03AM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
Signwave UK
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- In response to Dan Warne's post of 11/7/2003...
Didn't work well for me - Version: 2.0.009, 11/7/2003 09:00PM PST
Dan Warne
<p>Something was wrong with the sound for me. It was crackly and distorted... in fact I wondered if it was a 'sound error' - it didn't sound like anything at all to me.
<p>Secondly, on my system, it didn't composite graphics with alpha channels properly - they came out with dirty pixelated 'hard clipping' edges. Maybe it's because my Mac isn't Quartz Extreme compatible (G4-400 Sawtooth with Rage 128 Pro graphics card).
<p>Thirdly, the whole program seemed a bit pointless. All it appears to do is find pictures in your home folder and slap them one on top of each other on the screen. Although this has limited curiosity factor in this day and age of having thousands of picture files on a machine (many of which typical users will have forgotten about), it doesn't do much more than provide a slide show without clearing the screen after each image.
<p>It would have been cooler if this program made up one of those amazing mozaic pictures based on tiny thumbnails of hundreds of pictures (extracted from one's home folder.)
<p>Oh, and $US20 for this? There are more useful utiltiies out there that sell for $5 - $7. Who would pay $20 for this?
<p>Secondly, on my system, it didn't composite graphics with alpha channels properly - they came out with dirty pixelated 'hard clipping' edges. Maybe it's because my Mac isn't Quartz Extreme compatible (G4-400 Sawtooth with Rage 128 Pro graphics card).
<p>Thirdly, the whole program seemed a bit pointless. All it appears to do is find pictures in your home folder and slap them one on top of each other on the screen. Although this has limited curiosity factor in this day and age of having thousands of picture files on a machine (many of which typical users will have forgotten about), it doesn't do much more than provide a slide show without clearing the screen after each image.
<p>It would have been cooler if this program made up one of those amazing mozaic pictures based on tiny thumbnails of hundreds of pictures (extracted from one's home folder.)
<p>Oh, and $US20 for this? There are more useful utiltiies out there that sell for $5 - $7. Who would pay $20 for this?
Most Recent Replies: View All 1 Replies
In particular, the crackling sound is definitely intentional. Every time a file is scanned, a small click is played. Every time an bit-map file is rejected as unsuitable, is buzzing sound is heard, resulting in a disjointed and sometimes uncomfortable soundtrack that is unique to your computer. This forms part of the "generative" principle that the artwork operates on.
Secondly, the alpha channelling feature is only available to users who have bought a serial number - this is the "Ghostly" option, and is available in the "of Netochka Nezvanova" menu, but only if you have purchased a serial number. It is not dependant on having Quartz Extreme, as Dan suggests, but having hardware acceleration will naturally enhance the experience.
We won't respond to Dan's third point as, in the light of the fact that this is a software artwork, response here seems contrary to what is necessary. Judgement of the merits of an artwork are left for the individual users.
Finally - we'd like to reiterate that "A Portrait..." is a software artwork, and not really a utility. Obviously, posting such software on sites like VersionTracker is a contentious issue, and one that we have consciously decided to do. If the fact that "A Portrait..." is an artwork isn't clear from our web site and supporting documentation, we apologise. Dan's feedback with respect to this has been particularly useful - as you can appreciate Signwave UK is not a regular software company, so we are always interested in seeing how the general public receive our work.
Thank you for time and we hope some people out there enjoy our software.